Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah in Judah

33 ^(A)Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ^2 (B)He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. ³ For ^(C)he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; ^(D)he also erected altars for the Baals and made ^[a]Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ^4 (E)He built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said, “My name shall be ^(F)in Jerusalem forever.” ⁵ For he built altars for all the host of heaven in ^(G)the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (H)He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and ^(I)dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. ⁷ Then he put ^(J)the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “^(K)In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; ⁸ and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land ^(L)which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them according to all the law, the statutes and the ordinances given through Moses.” ⁹ Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.